Roadside Attraction (Castle View Series Book 2) by Lynn Cahoon Page A

and, probably, Maggie thought, to tick her off.
    She shrugged. Shane was a big boy, he probably could help her mother off the floor but sometimes it was better not to argue with Brad. What Brad wanted, Brad got. It had been that way since the kid was born. Now her brother took his entitlement for granted.
    When she didn’t respond, Brad assumed her silence was acceptance. “Great. She’ll be here at nine. I want you to get a feel for her, since you’re female.”
    “And I’ve got special female insights?” Sometimes her brother could be insensitive. But mostly, he was just clueless, especially when it came to the other sex. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
    “You know what I mean. You’ll know if Mom would like her or kick her out the first day.” Maggie could hear the pen tapping Brad’s desk. He had a nervous twitch when something was important. It was his tell and both Maggie and Mark had tended to use it against him when they were kids. No matter how this would turn out, Brad was determined to take care of Mom. She might as well get on the bandwagon.
    “I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Make sure we have coffee,” Maggie grumbled and hung up the cell. She’d wanted to hang around the house thinking about Josh’s offer. But no, she had to take care of her mother and deal with this crazy idea from Brad. As she got ready for her day, she thought about riding the highways on the back of Josh’s bike. Her arms wrapped around his body, watching the world flow by and stopping at places along the way that amused them. Not just the big attractions, but the water fountain by the side of the road boasting of clear, artesian well water. Or the little shop selling opals dug from an Idaho mine. 
    Her mind was still playing with the idea of leaving when she arrived at the winery. The building was massive, making her Tiger Café look tiny. The woodworking Dad had hired out for her bar area had been the same crew that did the winery so the places appeared similar. Deep, rich, and with a Hemingway era theme. She’d loved playing dress-up and coming down to the tasting room for tea parties with her dolls as a kid. She wondered if that playtime had cemented her career of restaurant owner at the age of five. A career she was thinking about walking away from just to follow a man.
    Old habits die hard. She’d been accused of being flighty during high school and college. And honestly, back then she had been more intent on making herself fit the current boyfriend’s mold. When she dated the quarterback, she joined the cheer squad and hated it. When she dated the brain, freshman year of college, she read the classics and talked about novel structure. It had been Moonchild, her last serious boyfriend, who’d made her realize what she was doing. In fact, he’d dumped her after she’d offered to quit school and sell flowers by the road to pay for their bohemian life. “This isn’t you, it’s me.” He’d put a hand on her shoulder and kissed her tenderly. “You need to live your own life, not mine or the next guy you think you have fallen in love with.”
    And yet, here she was ready to dump everything she’d worked for to get on the back of Josh’s bike. Something was holding her back, but she didn’t feel like it was Moonchild’s words. Was she reacting from the pains of being an adult? Or seeing Tami grow wings? Or did she really have strong feelings for a guy she’d met less than a week ago?
    “Earth to Maggie.” Brad stood in the doorway to his office holding out a cup of coffee. “What’s got you so lost in thought? Don’t tell me your new guy’s dumped you already?”
    She grabbed the cup and pushed past him to the couch. “No, he hasn’t dumped me.” She paused, wondering if Brad was the one she should be confiding in. “Actually, he’s asked me to go traveling with him.”
    Brad sat next to her, his forearms on his thighs and studied her. “Wow, that’s out of left field. Are you